Peel police discriminated against a South Asian-Canadian officer on the basis of his race when he was denied the opportunity for promotion into the senior ranks, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled.Friday’s decision also said that the Peel police force “generally” devalued police work in Peel’s huge South Asian community because it is “associated with the South Asian population.”Staff Sgt. Baljiwan (BJ) Sandhu, a decorated officer with 28 years of service on the Peel police force, had sought a promotion to inspector in 2013. “The applicant’s race, ancestry, place of origin, and/or ethnic origin were factors in his failure to be recommended for promotion in February 2013, and as such I find that the applicant has been subject to discrimination because of race,” in violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code, tribunal adjudicator Bruce Best said in the decision.The tribunal decision refers to many of Sandhu’s commendations and awards for helping solve a wide variety of cases, from homicides to drug trafficking, along with a 2011 newspaper article calling him one of the three most influential South Asian Canadians working in law enforcement, a short list that also included current federal Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.But when Sandhu tried to break into the force’s senior ranks, out of 33 applicants he was one of two who were denied the opportunity to compete for promotion. According to the tribunal decision, the other applicant who was denied, a sergeant, had minimal experience, unlike Sandhu. The tribunal’s decision, based on evidence presented during hearings over the past two years, states that the two senior officers who denied Sandhu the promotion “devalued the experience he had in diversity and in South Asian intelligence,” and that “the South Asian portfolios were generally devalued in the service” because “they were associated w ...
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